Lil' Kim insists she was on time for her Lovebox performance despite organisers cancelling due to lateness

There's no excuse for lateness, as American rapper Lil’ Kim discovered when she had her set at the Lovebox festival cancelled for failing to turn up on time.

Organisers said they had “no option” but to cut her from the bill when she was not ready for her 6:10pm stage slot.

But Kim, 38, tells me it wasn’t her fault.

A source at the East London gig says chaos was reigning on the Victoria Park site in the hairy moments ahead of the star’s scheduled performance over the weekend.

I’m told: “There was absolute panic. Nobody could get hold of her. Organisers didn’t want to have to push back everybody else’s set.

“At 7pm she rocked up with her entourage but security told them they had to leave the site. It got pretty heated backstage.”

It also got pretty passive-aggressive in the statements released by everyone.

Lovebox got their release out pronto, which read: “Lil’ Kim did not turn up to her set on time. The festival had no other option but to maintain the scheduled running order to ensure the other main stage acts were not disrupted.”

But Kim’s rep said on Twitter: “Due to circumstances that were out of Kim’s control, her performance at #LoveBox was cancelled.

“Kim was on site and on time for her performance and apologises to all of her fans for the inconvenience.”

To make up for said inconvenience, Lil’ Kim arranged a meet and greet at her hotel yesterday and tweeted her London hotel to all her followers.

Unfortunately, she forgot to tell? the hotel, so the 500 or so fans ?who turned up were redirected ?round the corner.

3am turned up (on time) and asked what had happened at Lovebox.

“It’s a long story,” said Kim. “But it wasn’t our fault.”

3am offered to write a ?strongly-worded letter of complaint to whoever’s fault it was, and asked who was to blame.

LoveBox Festival was forced to cancel Lil' Kim's scheduled slot after the rapper failed to show up on time for her performance.

The rapper had been scheduled to perform on the main stage, but was nowhere to be found prior to the show. LoveBox was forced to cancel her slot in order to keep the schedule running.

They said in an official statement: "Lil' Kim did not turn up to her set on time. The festival had no other option but to maintain the scheduled running order to ensure the other main stage acts were not disrupted."(source clickmusic.com)

Publicist Lizzie Grubman issued a statement on Twitter: "NEWS ALERT: Due to circumstances that were out of Kim's control, her performance at #LoveBox was canceled. Kim was on-site and on time for her performance and apologizes to all of her fans for the inconvenience."

A British dancer that was going to appear on stage with Lil' Kim shared his thoughts on the behind scenes drama on his Twitter page.@calmkev "Was meant to perform with @LilKim at Lovebox today, her camp is a shambles." --- "I don't even think it was Lil Kim's fault because she was upset in the car 'n' shit. Her camp needs some work though." --- "I don't think it was @LilKim's fault directly. But the way her camp handled us & the dancers was very unprofessional." --- "My time & money was wasted. Nobody even gave us the courtesy of issuing an apology for something I chose to do as a favour."

MEET n GREET at 3PM TODAY@lilkim "Today was a very long day. There were things that happened that were out of my control. I love my UK fans. I want to do a big meet'n'greet today. Meet me at my hotel lobby at 3pm. Andaz hotel at Liverpool street.